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Lambda Legal Statement Concerning Today's Illinois State Board of Elections' Ruling Not to Certify Antigay Referendum for Fall Ballot
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"We are pleased that the Board of Elections followed the evidence where it led and voted to keep this divisive measure off the ballot."
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(Chicago, August 11, 2006) — Lambda Legal staff attorney James P. Madigan comments on today’s ruling by the Illinois State Board of Elections that it will not certify an antigay statewide advisory referendum opposing marriage and relationship rights for same-sex couples for the Fall ballot in Illinois because it lacked required popular support. Referendum supporters continue to pursue a federal appeal to have Illinois requirements declared unconstitutional.
“We are pleased that the Board of Elections followed the evidence where it led and voted to keep this divisive measure off the ballot,” said Lambda Legal staff attorney James P. Madigan, who has worked on the Board and federal court proceedings. “The Board refused to let Protect Marriage Illinois play by special rules and applied the same law to them that applies to everyone else.”
Lambda Legal represents the registered opponent of the referendum, Fair Illinois, a coalition of fair-minded Illinoisans that came together to oppose the referendum, and five individual objectors. Under Illinois law, Protect Marriage Illinois (PMI) needed the support of 283,111 registered voters to place its proposed antigay referendum on the Fall ballot in Illinois. In papers filed with the Board of Elections, Fair Illinois demonstrated that the petitions submitted by PMI were riddled with tens of thousands of invalid signatures. A random sampling by the Board of Elections also found insufficient support presented by PMI. PMI was unable to counter these findings.
In addition to Madigan, Fair Illinois and the objectors (William B. Kelley, Chen K. Ooi, Evette Cardona and PFLAG members John R. Cepek and Charleen S. Cepek) are represented by Lambda Legal senior counsel Patricia M. Logue and cooperating attorneys from Jenner & Block LLP (Jeffrey D. Colman, John R. Storino, Adam H. Morse and Erin M. O’Connell) as well as co-counsel Michael J. Kasper of Fletcher Topol O’Brien & Kasper PC and attorney Michael Kreloff.
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Mark Roy 212-809-8585 ext.267
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
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